A distributed data store is either a distributed database where users store information on a number of nodes, or a computer network in which users store information on a number of peer network nodes. Distributed data store are non-relational databases that make a quick access to data over a large number of nodes possible. Examples for this kind of data stores are Google's BigTable, which is much more than a distributed file system or a peer-to-peer network, Amazon's Dynamo and Windows Azure Storage.
As the ability of arbitrary querying is not as important as the availability, designers of distributed data stores have increased the latter at an expense of consistency in certain implementations. But the high-speed read/write access results in reduced consistency, as it is hard to have consistency, availability, and partition tolerance of the network.
As companies today become more accustomed to storing important company information on their data network, the value of these networks and the data they store continues to grow. In fact, many companies now identify the data stored on their computer network as their most valuable corporate asset.